We lost a future hero,….The Right to Die

I think we should be able to control our own body and have the right to die in the way we see fit.

I don`t want to die the way my father did in a adult care home, suffering from Parkinson`s for six years, not able to move much, take care of myself nor be able to read, or even speak much.
He had to live apart from my mother. Few people visited him, though many came to his memorial service. That is pretty screwy. Why not visit the man when he is still breathing?

It was lonely and sad. And for what? Why would it be wrong for him to die peacefully should he have wanted to.

Ironically, I am not certain my father would have wanted to go. I think he was always hoping he would get better. But he knew deep down that he wouldn`t.

Yet, I think when it is time to go, we should have the legal right to end our lives ourselves in a way that doesn`t hurt anyone else.

A medically assisted death, conducted with the help of a medical professional seems the right way for me.

It might even cut down on the horrible deaths of people jumping in front of trains and jumping off buildings. Some innocent bystanders are killed or severely hurt when this happens.
Though the “jumpers,” unfortunately tend to be relatively young and fit, and tragically depressed. What a waste.

Dr. Jack Kervorkian was a man before his time. In 50 to 100 years, I am confident he will be hailed as a hero, and not mocked as much as he has been in our time.

I think we can regulate medically assisted deaths to make sure they are not abused. We can provide counseling to be sure people are not simply depressed and might feel differently in a few months.

For some, their bodies are so racked with disease that death really is a gift. These are the people that need help. Dr. Kervorkian was intelligent enough to see that. I say shame on his medical colleagues who could not, or worse, hid behind some dogma (medical, philosophical or religious), that simply said: “this is wrong.”

News Story Follows:

DETROIT – Jack Kevorkian built his suicide machine with parts gathered from flea markets and stashed it in a rusty Volkswagen van.

But it was Kevorkian’s audacious attitude that set him apart in the debate over doctor-assisted suicide. The retired pathologist who said he oversaw the deaths of 130 gravely ill people burned state orders against him, showed up at court in costume and dared authorities to stop him or make his actions legal. He didn’t give up until he was sent to prison.

The 83-year-old Kevorkian died Friday at a Michigan hospital without seeking the kind of “planned death” that he once offered to others. He insisted suicide with the help of a medical professional was a civil right.

His gaunt, hollow-cheeked appearance gave him a ghoulish, almost cadaverous look and helped earn him the nickname “Dr. Death.” But Kevorkian likened himself to Martin Luther King and Gandhi and called physicians who didn’t support him “hypocritic oafs.”

“Somebody has to do something for suffering humanity,” he once said. “I put myself in my patients’ place. This is something I would want.”